President William Ruto has overturned a directive by Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria ordering the evacuation of squatters from land owned by a private firm in Machakos County.
Speaking on Wednesday, December 7, during a ground-breaking ceremony for the Mavoko Affordable Housing Project, Ruto announced that he had brokered an agreement between the firm and the area residents.
"Last week, I met all those who were involved and we have agreed to settle the matter out of court so that we can build more affordable houses here in Mavoko.
"We have investors who are here ready to work with us to build 200,000 housing units here," Ruto disclosed.
In addition, the president pleaded with Governor Wavinya Ndeti and other leaders from the region not to frustrate the government's development projects in the area.
"I want to ask all of us to focus on the bigger picture because we can transform this nation by working together and in a focused manner," he stated.
Among the resolutions reached was that 10 per cent of the units developed in the housing project be handed over to the Machakos county government - much to the protest of Governor Ndeti.
"That is too little, let us try to push it to about 20 or 30 per cent because we want them to be sold to the people of county and county government," she stated.
Wavinya requested Ruto to ensure the completion of projects initiated by the previous regime including roads, stadia and water projects.
The county boss also made a plea to the president to upgrade Machakos and Mavoko towns to city status owing to the population and development growth.
Ruto assured Machakos county that he would bring an end to the tiff over the water supply with neighbouring Kitui County.
Kuria's order rattled leaders from the region, with Wavinya, Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka and ex-governor Mike Sonko maintaining that the land belonged to the people.
